


the Drake-Kane seder for wayward Bats

by musicspeakstoo



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicspeakstoo/pseuds/musicspeakstoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the tin. Passover at Tim's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the Drake-Kane seder for wayward Bats

**Author's Note:**

> This is v self-indulgent but I was talking about jewish tim drake (the headcanon of my heart) and I wrote a little thing for it and decided to turn it into a full-fledged fic. Huge thanks jay for the Spanish, for introducing me to Mexican Jason Todd, and for inspiring me to write this.

Tim’s parents were never really around at the same time every year, usually off on one of their adventures, leaving Tim behind. Janet Drake, however, was always home around the High Holidays, dressing Tim up in a suit while they went to synagogue. He doesn’t remember most of it, honestly, except the smell of the prayer books and the blowing of the shofar. 

What he has better recollections of is the other time his mother was regularly around—Passover. They usually went to one or two seders during the first two nights, just the two of them. These Tim remembers better; the bitterness of herbs, a table stacked with food, and a story he knows as well as Batman and Robin’s patrol route. They never hosted one themselves, Janet claiming it was too much effort but Tim secretly thinks it was because of the way his father never mentioned religion, not even on the few Christmases they had together after he woke up. 

He forgets about Passover after his mother dies, puts it away in the box in his mind where he keeps things like the smell of his father’s cologne and the way Dick had hugged him, that first time. He’s Robin now and Robin doesn’t have time to attend seders, not when Scarecrow is on the loose.

When his dad wakes up, he thinks about bringing it up, thinks about asking if it was something she did before she had Tim or if it was something she only did for his sake, proof that his mother actually loved him. The closest they come to talking about it is when they’re unpacking some stuff that was in storage and Tim unwraps the old brass menorah his mother loved and Jack makes a face Tim can’t quite figure out and quietly asks Tim to put it away. He doesn’t ask.

It’s not until after his dad is dead that he picks it up again and even then, it has nothing to do with him and everything to do with Cass. He’s lost a father but still has a sister, one who has no better idea of family than he does, really. And at least he has television to work off of. 

Dick seemed to want to celebrate every major family holiday with Cass that there was, so Tim goes digging for the seder plate that was left to him as part of his inheritance, one he’d never used but hung on display with all the other treasures the Drakes had. He enlists Alfred’s help in cooking. They only clean the dining room and the kitchen, but it’s worth it to see Cass’ face when she hears the story, laugh about the charoset with Babs, smile at Dick’s teasing. It’s also worth it to see the expression on Bruce’s face as he watches Tim read from the haggadah, a strange mixture of fondness and sadness, but with pride showing through.

After that, he foolishly thinks it’s going to become a tradition. Then Bruce dies and Damian becomes Robin and Tim goes on a quest that will either kill him if he’s wrong or make everything right again if he’s not. He doesn’t even know when Passover is, that year. 

He almost misses it this year, too. He’s down by the docks, fighting against a gang smuggling in weapons with Cass and Steph at his sides, Batwoman at his back. He doesn’t know her that well, just knows that she’s a fringe member of the cape and cowl scene. Knows that she’s dating Detective Montoya, Tim’s friend from his Robin days. He knows her whole backstory, of course, but that doesn’t mean anything.

They finish up faster than Tim would have thought, even with the four of them. Kate is alerting GCPD while Cass and Steph are tying up the unconscious gang members.

“I don’t know about you, guy and dolls, but I’m starving,” Steph says, “The diner with the killer steak fries sound good to anyone else? We can do takeout and eat on the roof.”

Cass and Tim nod and turn to Kate, who thinks about it for a minute, then says, “Why not? I got nothing else to do tonight.”

They plop down on a roof a block from the diner and elect Steph to go get their food. Tim, Cass, and Kate all silently agree that they’re in that brief window of time where there’s just few enough people around that they can lose the masks. Steph comes back a few minutes later with two bags full of food in one hand. She takes her cowl off and starts passing the food around.

“Man, I can’t remember the last time I sat down and ate a meal with more than one other person,” Steph says.

“Don’t you eat in the dining hall at school?” Tim asks.

“That doesn’t count, Dweeb Wonder, that’s mostly me scarfing down enough calories and sugar to get me through class.” 

“This reminds me of the seder we had a couple years ago.” Cass interjects, halting their bickering, “Do you think we could do it again, Tim? Passover’s in a few days.”

Evidently Cass has decided it’s also safe to use their real names, so it probably really _is_ safe, although it still makes Tim twitchy. 

Kate’s head snaps up, “Seder? You’re Jewish, Red Robin?”

Oh, right. Kate is Jewish. In fact, if Tim thinks really hard, he thinks he might remember a Kane or two at one of the seders he’d attended.

Tim shrugs, “Yeah, but I’m not really practicing. I mean, I do Hanukkah and stuff, but we really only went to temple on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.” 

She nods, “Yeah, me too. I went to Hebrew school when I was a kid, but I lost it as I got older.”

“Maybe you guys could do a joint seder, or something.” Steph says around a mouthful of burger.

“The Drake-Kane Seder for Wayward Bats?” he asks jokingly, even though as he says it, he kind of likes the idea.

Kate laughs, “Y’know, that’s not actually a bad idea. I’m up for it if you are.”

He mulls it over for a minute and then shrugs, “Why not? Although you,” he points a fry at Steph, “are totally helping me clean.”

Kate groans, “Oh, damn I forgot about the cleaning.”

Steph rolls her eyes, like she thinks they’re being dramatic, but she’ll see. She’ll learn. 

They go their separate ways after that, but Kate and Tim exchange numbers and throughout the week they plan out more of the seder. Tim tells her that she can bring Renee, but declines to invite any of his friends. It’s not that he doesn’t want them there, it’s just that Tim really doesn’t want Dick to come and it’ll be hard enough keeping it from him as it is.

He can tell that Kate wants to ask, but thankfully she doesn’t. Steph rolls her eyes at him, but doesn’t press. He thinks Cass is secretly relieved that Dick won’t be there, he’s not certain, though. The demon brat and Bruce aren’t invited either, which tragically means not inviting Alfred. Tim _does_ invite Jason. 

He doesn’t mean to sneak up on him, had actually gone back and forth on whether it would be best to wait for them to cross paths or seek Jason out himself. But Wednesday rolls around and Tim hasn’t seen him, so he decides to go to his apartment. He’s in street clothes because he figures the invite would sound more genuine coming from Tim as opposed to Red Robin. He makes up for it by coming in through the window.

Jason’s got his music on pretty loud and doesn’t notice Tim until he’s standing in the entrance to Jason’s bedroom, and then he jumps a little, reaching for the knife on the desk at the same time.

“ _Dios mio_ , Tim. I didn’t hear you knock.”

“I came in through the bathroom window.” 

Jason rolls his eyes, “You’re a freak, kiddo.”

Tim gives Jason his ‘pot, kettle’ expression and Jason rolls his eyes again, brushes past Tim into his living room.

Jason plops down onto his couch, pulls out a paperback from underneath the couch cushion and makes a face at it, seeming to ignore Tim even as he asks, “Can I help you? I assume this is a social call, since I can see your face.”

Tim nods, fidgets with his hands, a nervous tell he’s mostly gotten rid of. Except, of course, around Jason. They’re better than they were in the beginning, the homicidal urges mostly on par with what usually comes with family. Or friends, he supposes. Tim’s not sure he and Jason will ever be brothers, but they can be friends, which is more than either of them could have imagined six months ago. 

“Well, I was, uh, I was wondering if, you’d wanna come to seder on Friday? It’s not formal and gonna be kinda small but yeah.” The last part comes out a little rushed, but Tim has apparently lost all of his chill, so he’s lucky it comes out at all.

Jason’s staring at him, with one eyebrow raised in surprise. “Wow, I was being sarcastic about this being a social visit but sure.”

Tim feels his face heat but he’s not sure if it’s from embarrassment or shame. Probably both. For all that he and Jason are better, they’re not _great_ and Tim admits that he doesn’t hang out with Jason outside of fighting crime as he does with Cass or Kon. 

Tim blinks, “Okay, then. So, six thirty? On Friday? At my place, I know you know where it is. That sound good?”

Jason nods, looking about as surprised about this whole thing as Tim feels, which is kind of odd but whatever.

Tim nods and he turns to go when he suddenly remembers something and turns back to Jason, “Uh. By the way, don’t tell Dick or Bruce, okay?”

Jason’s eyebrows practically go up to his hairline, but he smirks at Tim.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, baby B. I do have one question, though,” and at Tim’s questioning noise says, “What do I bring?”

Tim blinks, shrugs. “Wine, probably. Red. Kate and I have decided to not hate ourselves and are skipping the Manischewitz this year.”

Jason looks confused, but Tim waves him off. He has an investors’ meeting for WE in an hour and needs to put on a suit and look over the figures again, he doesn’t have time to explain. 

“You’re very strange, Replacement. I’m sure you’ve been informed of that but it keeps hitting me.”

Tim just laughs and then goes back the way he came, out of Jason’s window, ignoring his, “You’re allowed to use the door, y’know.”

Thursday he gets out of having to do any office work, thank you Tam, and instead he and Steph spend all day cleaning Tim’s place. They’ve decided to only do the kitchen, the living room, and the bathroom because neither of them really want to clean the whole top floor of the building that makes up Tim’s loft, and they’re taking shortcuts elsewhere too. They blast girlband pop and 90s riot grrl while they work and it’s definitely the most fun Tim’s had cleaning anything. 

They drop off the hametz at the local food shelter and then meet up with Cass for pancakes as a pre-patrol dinner. When Tim gets back from patrol, his mother’s seder plate is carefully wrapped in bubblewrap and propped up against his door. There’s a kind note from Alfred, saying he understands, that he doesn’t hold it against them and hopes that they have a pleasant seder. Tim cries a little while he puts it away.

Friday sees him getting up early to do some casework and then he gets started on the brisket before Kate comes over to help make everything else. They agreed to not go all out, but there’s matzoh ball soup to be made and they haven’t decided on dessert, but Tim think they’re probably going with the flourless cake thing, though Tim had lobbied for the Passover-approved chocolate chip cookies. There’s also the setting of the table and all the other little things to prepare for. 

Kate comes over just as he’s finished putting the brisket in the oven to sear. She’s holding a garment bag in one hand and has several shopping bags in the other. He takes the bags from her and directs her toward the guest room where she can hang her dress.

“I brought over Manischewitz for the brisket because I couldn’t remember if you’d said you bought some or not and if not we can probably use it for the haroset. I grabbed horseradish too, and some basic salad stuff. Also, I found the recipe for the flourless chocolate cake that I was telling you about, so we can do that for dessert.”

Tim’s back in the kitchen, unpacking everything when Kate pads back in, dressed in sweats like he is.

“You’re keeping an eye on the brisket, yeah?” she asks.

He nods and then they start divvying up who will make what. Kate makes the soup while Tim flips the brisket over and then double checks that they have everything on the list accounted for. 

“Renee’s covering for someone else’s shift tonight, so she won’t be able to come, unfortunately. She says thanks for the invite, though. And hi, of course. She says to drop by the precinct sometime, that Red Robin is just as welcome as Robin is.” Kate’s grinning at him and Tim smiles back.

“Sorry to miss her. Tell her I said we’ll see about me dropping by. Red Robin and Robin aren’t really the same person,” she gives him a sympathetic look that he waves away. 

“I told Steph and Cass not to bring anything, since Steph’s a broke college kid and Cass was busy with a case. Jason’s bringing wine, I think, and Babs is running point for some Birds of Prey thing so she’s out. So are Harper and Cullen, uh, Bluebird and her brother,” he clarifies at Kate’s confused look.

“She not down with partying it up with the outsider vigilantes?” Kate jokes.

Tim snorts, “Nah, the opposite actually. But they ate something funky and both of them are down for the count with food poisoning.” 

Kate makes a ‘yikes’ face and Tim nods in agreement. They don’t talk much after that, but Kate puts on classic rock and the two of them sing along. It reminds him of yesterday, and how this feels just as natural as that did. If nothing else, Tim figures, he’s got one more friend out of this whole thing.

Steph and Cass show up just as Kate’s started on the matzoh balls and Tim’s started to set the table. Steph is in a nice purple sundress and Cass is in a sundress as well, but it’s the same yellow she wore as Batgirl and Tim secretly thinks it’s nice to see her in bright colors. They tease him about looking sloppy and he rolls his eyes, thanks both of them for helping out. They sit at the counter and munch on the vegetable platter Tim had mooched from one of the break rooms at WE. 

Tim shoos Kate off to go get ready after she puts the soup in the fridge and he gets started on the cake. Cass wants to help so he has her finish setting the table while he and Kate yell back and forth about whether to put an orange on the seder plate or not. They do put one on there, mostly for the novelty that Tim _has_ an orange in his fridge and that it’s still good. 

Jason shows up at 6:30 on the dot, while Tim’s getting ready. He’s holding a few bottles of cheap red wine and trying not to look as out of place as he feels. He’s not really dressed up either, but the leather jacket and combat boots are conspicuously absent. 

“You know we’re all pretty good at holding our liquor but this might actually be enough to get us drunk.” Tim jokes as he comes out to greet him.

Jason sets them on the counter and rolls his eyes, “That’s the point, Timbo. From what I hear, seders are celebrations and usually celebrating involves getting drunk.”

Steph, Cass, and Kate all laugh.

“Besides,” Jason adds, “it’s fucking raining goddamn cats and dogs out there, we’re gonna need to be good and drunk if we’re going out in that shit later.” Tim had noticed the rain starting earlier, but now it’s loud enough to almost compete with the music.

“I guess you’re not _estupido_ after all,” Tim teases as he walks by Jason to get the wine opener.

Jason swats him on the head, “ _Chinga tu madre_. No using my language against me, white boy.” 

Cass laughs especially hard at that and Jason shoves him a little, but he’s smiling wider than Tim’s seen, even through the lens of a camera. Tim opens the first two bottles of wine to let them breathe, despite Jason’s protests that they’re really not that nice, he doesn’t need to do that. The smell of the brisket is starting to circulate the room and it’s mixing nicely with the chicken soup smell that’s still lingering.

Finally, everything is ready and they sit down to start the seder. Tim’s at the head of the table with Steph and Cass on his left and Kate and Jason on his right. Elijah’s chair is at the other end. 

“You guys don’t have to sit up straight, we’re supposed to recline on Pesach,” Kate says, looking at how everyone is sitting.

“Wine and a crapton of food, all while lounging around. Seems Judaism’s got the right idea,” Steph quips and everyone laughs.

He and Kate had agreed upon the standard 30-minute haggadah. Everything else had felt too long or too short, plus this is the only one Tim has any recollection of. Cass insists on reading out loud along with everyone else, even though she’s still a little shaky. Tim agrees, feeling pride swell in his chest when she does wonderfully. He’s surprised by how clear Jason’s reading voice is and he smiles at the familiarity of Steph’s. 

He get surprisingly choked up when he gets to the seder plate, thoughts turning to his mother and wondering what she would have thought. Wonders, like always, if she would be proud of him. Steph squeezes his arm and he smiles at her gratefully. 

They get to Tim’s favorite part, the actual telling of the story. Cass asks to read the four questions and they all respond in unison. Tim’s other favorite part, the listing of the plagues, is interrupted by the arrival of Babs. 

“Sorry, guys, I thought the Birds of Prey thing was going to take longer than it did and I was hoping that the offer was still good,” she says, smile widening at the sight of Jason there. Tim gets her a towel to dry off while Kate sets her a place next to Jason. 

They resume the seder, Kate and Tim cracking up at the faces everyone makes upon eating matzoh. They make it better later, with the sandwich. Tim and Kate lead them all in Dayenu, which Tim’s sure will be stuck in his head forever, but it’s fun to sing together and when they almost knock over Kate’s wine glass by banging on the table, everyone dives to get it, laughing. There’s something about a roomful of people who care about, sharing a meal and stories and grins that loosens something in Tim’s chest he didn’t know was there.

When they get to the end, ______L’shana haba-a bi-Y’rushalayim______ , Jason says, “Nah, with the way our lives go? Next year in Gotham. All of us, right here.”

Everyone echoes it, the mood turning solemn for a moment.

The food is a rousing success, Kate sharing the story of the ever-constant fight her mom and aunt used to have about the proper type of matzoh ball and Tim shares a clearer memory of the one time at a seder where he found the afikomen, but smacked his head in the process and his mother had laughed at the sight of him holding it up triumphantly, a big red mark on his forehead. 

After, once dinner is done, Kate suggests they all move into the living room for dessert and to watch The Prince of Egypt, which is apparently a really awesome movie about Passover. Tim’s never seen it, but he’s feeling warm and relaxed from the food and the alcohol, so he’s pretty much down for anything. Jason offers to help clear the table while the others open the last bottle of wine and start the movie.

They work in silence until Jason clears his throat, “Thanks for inviting me, Tim. I’m having a lot of fun. Kate’s pretty cool.”

Tim nods, “Anytime, Jay. I’m really glad you came. So is everyone else.”

The nickname slips out, Jason’s eyes widening at it, but he doesn’t say anything against it, so Tim makes a note to use it more often. Jason shifts a little and Tim feels a little amused at the role reversal of their conversation in Jason’s living room two days ago. 

“Y’know, I’ve been thinking,” Jason starts.

Tim makes an encouraging noise, looking at Jason.

“I’m Mexican, you know. It wasn’t something I thought a lot about, ever, but I dunno this whole seder thing worked out good for you and I was kinda thinking maybe I could try and get in touch with my culture too. Not like, a whole lot but something.” 

Jason’s not looking at him and Tim thinks he might be a little pink, but that could be the wine.

He elbows Jason lightly, just to get his attention. “I think that’s a great idea, Jason. If you ever want some help or something, I’d be happy to...do whatever, even if it’s just research.”

“Not too busy being a rich playboy?” Jason teases, and then throws his head back laughing at the long-suffering look on Tim’s face.

He stops laughing and looks at Tim for a minute, like he’s looking for something. Shakes his head fondly.

“Thanks, babybird, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Hey assholes,” Steph calls, “We’re gonna drink all the wine without you if you don’t get your butts in here.”

They roll their eyes and leave the rest of the dishes to join the others in the living room. Steph pats the seat in between her and Cass on the couch and Tim plops down there while Jason sits at Babs’ feet with Kate in the armchair on the other side of the couch. Steph hands him his glass and a plate with a slice of cake on it while Kate presses play.

The opening narration starts and Tim takes a moment to look around at the people who are there with him. It’s not everyone he’d ideally want, but. These people trekked through Gotham in the rain to celebrate this with him, to partake in a culture that the majority of them don’t share, all because he’d asked. He grins as the music starts and thinks; _if only one of them had shown up tonight—dayenu_. 

**Author's Note:**

> Chag sameach to all my fellow Jews.


End file.
